Retired cop says he found middleman, sent in report to superiors
PUTRAJAYA: A retired police officer told the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) probing into the Wang Kelian human trafficking case that he received information in 2015 about a Malaysian middleman.
S. Sivanganam, who was then deputy commander of the General Operations Force (GOF) 3rd Battalion, said he was told the middleman’s name was either Aziz or Azim.
The sixth witness to testify in the RCI said he received a tip-off from a villager on Jan 20, a day after his team raided the human trafficking camp in Bukit Wang Burma.
Sivanganam, who retired as deputy superintendent, said the source told him he had been approached by “Aziz” to transport the illegal immigrants out of the northern state.
“I received a call from the source informing me about a man, named Aziz or Azim, who had been helping the syndicate to handle the illegal immigrants.
“He also told me the names of a few villagers who helped Aziz transport the illegal immigrants. The source said he was also approached by Aziz, but had refused his offer,” he told the sevenmember commission panel.
Sivanganam said he was given a description of “Aziz”, who was said to have a skin condition, along with a tip on where he could be found.
Based on this, Sivanganam went to a building adjacent to the Immigration, Customs and Quarantine Complex in Wang Kelian and found the man who fit the description, down to the fact that he had a skin condition.
“I then submitted an incident report on Jan 22. In my report, I included the chronology of the intelligence, findings and my conclusion,” he told the panel.
Sivanganam said he then despatched a copy of the report to the Kedah and Perlis police chiefs, Kedah-Perlis Border Intelligence Unit, North Brigade GOF commanding officer, National Security Council and Suhakam.
Asked if he knew whether local authorities were in cahoots with the human trafficking syndicate for whom Aziz was working, Sivangam said: “Yes. This is based on the information given by the source, who told me what Aziz told him when the former was trying to get him to transport the illegal immigrants.”
Asked if any of the parties to whom he had forwarded the copy of his report had contacted him, he said only federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman had done so, and it was only in February or March 2016.
Sivanganam said he was forbidden to conduct more operations after the Wang Kelian incident right up to the day he retired.
“I dared not question who gave this instruction and why.”
Asked by Tan whether he would have destroyed the camp if he was in charge, he said he would not as further investigations were necessary.